Seasons of Love

by Forever without him

When Alison DiLaurentis is thrust into a world of choices between obligation & loyalty she makes an impossible decision. After spending three years without Emily Fields, she sets out to prove to the brunette that she's worth loving. As looming threats from their past emerge and an unexpected tragedy unfolds, they learn to lean on one another. Canon-Divergent. Rating may change.

30. Bad Moon Rising

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I got my shit together and then had to wait on fanfic to get their shit together. This site is on fire, but I plan on burning to the ground with it...for my readers (But I'm on Ao3, too).

Recap:

Weird 'A' shit is going down. Everybody is a suspect!

Emily and Alison are doing their best to stay sane. Ezra is being shady AF. Sara WAS feral, so she was put down (she dead). Charlotte shenanigans. Some dude named Theodore Kim. Some other dude named James. Something, something...perilous danger. Yada, yada, yada...pending doom.

Note: Potentially triggering material.

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Chapter 29:

Bad Moon Rising

Emily and Alison didn't hear a word from Ezra over the next six days, but they had an entire profile on the new guy in their puzzle.

James Marlow Bristow had led a pretty unremarkable life on paper. He was an only child, born in a small town in Alabama to a single mother.

He'd been an average student who had played high school football. He wasn't good enough to go pro. He'd rebelled and decided to quit when he realized he wasn't going to be a millionaire.

He dropped out of high school, which is how he had found himself far away from sweet home Alabama. He had set roots in Pennsylvania where he started working odd jobs to get by.

He got his GED when he was twenty-three. Then he'd enrolled at a local college in Villanova. He made it a year before he was put on academic probation. His grades plummeted shortly after.

At some point he had befriended Darren Wilden, and by association Charlotte DiLaurentis.

He had hung out with some of the younger cops in Rosewood's precinct, including Garrett Reynolds.

Jason said that he vaguely remembered him from the NAT club. He couldn't remember much since he had killed so many brain cells with alcohol.

James had followed in Wilden's and Garrett's footsteps and enrolled in a police academy in Villanova. Shortly after he graduated was given a badge and a job at Villanova PD.

After Charlotte ended up in Welby "Jay Auburn", a security guard had dropped in looking for some extra work. He had been playing in the health care facility's face by blatantly using the name Auburn, a town from his home state.

Jason said he'd never seen him at Welby, which meant that James likely stayed out of sight when he saw Jason's name on the visitor's log.

Rosewood PD knew him as rookie "JJ Marlow". He'd applied after Wilden and Garrett were both dead, leaving him to get around the precinct virtually undetected.

His bank statements showed that he'd made a steady income at Villanova PD and Welby. But there were no paychecks from Rosewood PD, which suggested that they hadn't even realized he was faking his way in their department.

He was an average looking guy. He'd been scrawny when he was younger, which had made him a decent Placekicker on the football field.

It was only in recent years that he had filled out and changed so drastically.

"Great, a roid-raging Charlotte groupie with a gun, a badge, and a ton of money," Had been Hanna's response.

Hanna had every right to be worried, though his bank statements didn't show any large transactions.

Caleb was looking for offshore bank accounts, but that was going to take some time.

While Caleb and Toby were working the James Bristow angle, Emily and Spencer were following up on the car that had almost made Ezra a heaping pile of Pedo-Pancakes.

Theodore Kim's car was still sitting in the cemetery parking lot. It hadn't moved in days and no one had seen the driver.

Bud asked Emily if she wanted him to call a tow truck. She was too afraid to say yes.

She was afraid that the car might be set to explode if someone tried to move it or that the driver might come back and be angry to find it missing. Bud could certainly hold his own, but she didn't want to put him in that position.

It had been nearly a week since their discovery of James Bristow, and while their investigation was gaining steam…the FBI's investigation of Sara's murder was getting cold.

Tanner assured the girls they weren't giving up, but her track record was less than stellar.

They'd considered pointing the FBI in James Bristow's direction, but they had nothing to go on except for the fact that he'd impersonated a Rosewood officer. The camera footage outside Emily's house was shaky at best. And lucky for James…his involvement was not documented anywhere. He'd clearly learned how to burn evidence.

Spencer, Aria, and Hanna wanted to stay in Malibu until it was solved, but Emily and Alison knew they had to get on with their lives.

Spencer was spreading herself too thin. And it was starting to take a toll on her. Jerica had to sit down and have a serious conversation with her about getting back to her studies.

Aria had a little more leeway with her schooling and her boss, but they could tell she missed Liam and Argos. She had barely done any writing while she'd been there.

Hanna had kept her feelings…and her plans close to her chest.

Caleb checked in several times a day.

Hanna had been talking about planning the wedding, so it wasn't a surprise to Emily when she got home from school one evening and found Hanna in her living room with a binder full of fancy cake suggestions.

"Whatever makes you happy." Caleb was already practicing the part of the dutiful motto 'happy wife, happy life', though in his case he really didn't care.

He didn't much care for anything flashy in his life except the woman he was in love with.

"You said that about the flowers, too. And the venue."

Emily tossed her bag down on the counter. She could hear the water in the bathroom running.

Alison was in the shower, washing off the make-up caked on to her for a promotional tour for her new show.

"Look, I know you planned this out when you were a kid." Caleb's tone indicated that he was tired of all the fanfare. "Just tell me what to wear and I'll have someone point me down the aisle. As long as Cheese is our ring bearer."

The groom only had one stipulation for their wedding.

The cat.

Emily quietly stretched out on the old recliner that had once been her father's. She was swiping away on her phone.

Google had been no help in getting them any answers.

Then again...she couldn't exactly Google, "Where is Ezra Fitz? James Bristow. Off-shore Accounts. Theodore Kim. Fitzgerald Charity. Black Car, Tinted Windows. Who is sending us body parts and why does Charlotte DiLaurentis employ the worst people in the world to come after us?"

She looked over at Hanna, who was fading with the disappearing sun. She had taken an anti-anxiety pill to help her nerves and now she was relaxed, smiling and talking to Caleb on her laptop.

"How is my little Cheeze-it?" Hanna made the most absurd kissy-faces that Emily had ever seen.

The cat, who had been sitting on Caleb's lap, heard Hanna say his name and moments later he was shoving his face into Caleb's computer screen, nearly knocking it over.

Caleb steadied it and grabbed Cheese.

The cat was unfazed. He moved across the couch to the table and something crashed to the floor.

"As you can see, he's fine. Chaos as usual." Caleb shot Cheese a look, but he didn't seem the least bit upset. "That was my phone. You're lucky I love you." He scolded.

Emily tried to stifle a laugh, but failed. It would never not be funny that Hanna and Caleb fawned over a cocky little kitty cat.

"Is that Emily?" Caleb asked when he heard her laughing. "Hey, Em."

"Hey," she replied.

They had been doing a decent job of acting like everything was normal around Hanna…like they weren't hiding a huge secret about Ezra from her.

"Did you ask her yet?" Caleb posed a question to his bride-to-be.

"I was getting to it." Hanna shushed him.

"Ask me what?" Emily leaned back suspiciously.

Emily assumed it was something about the case back in Rosewood, but Hanna always knew how to surprise people.

"You're my Maid of Honor. You can't say no. Caleb and I only know each other because of you. If he hadn't been jacking up the price for jailbreaking your phone I never would have had a reason to yell at him."

"It was love at first threat." Caleb teased.

"I don't know." Emily wavered. "It's your choice, but…"

"Don't even mention the others." Hanna flipped her hair over her shoulder. "It was always going to be you, Em. I love the girls. I know them, too. Spencer thinks marriage is a stupid patriarchal ritual that's an outdated form of government control. Aria is a romantic at heart, but she has triggers when it comes to large life-changing events. Alison is on point with the fashion, but we're not close close like that. And they'll all be bridesmaids. Even Spencer. She'll fight me on it, but she'll wear the damn dress and stand there and fake a smile for me. I want everyone involved, but at the end of the day I want you up there with me."

Well when you put it that way…

There was no way in hell Emily could say no.

"What about your mom?" she asked.

"She's going to officiate. Ted is helping her get the certification and is going to teach her how. The hardest part is going to be the seating. We can't put Caleb's mom and stepbrothers anywhere near his dad. And we need to keep his dad away from the bar." Hanna traced something on an iPad.

She tilted the device so Emily could see the seating chart.

"Ted could run interference." Emily suggested. "Unless you need him to be a buffer between your parents."

"Ew." Hanna curled her lip up. "I'm not inviting my dad. He'd bring the step-monster and her little demon spawn."

Emily couldn't blame Hanna. Her father had abandoned her. And he'd had the audacity to put her stepsister Kate through college instead of Hanna.

"Bastard is probably going to pay for Kate's wedding if she finds someone dumb enough to marry her." Hanna rubbed her jaw.

Emily and Caleb glanced at one another. They both knew not to interrupt Hanna when she was ranting about her family.

"I haven't even told him about the wedding. I don't want one dime of his stupid money. He'd just use it as a bargaining chip. He'd want to bring his stepford family." Hanna's eyes narrowed. "As my Maid of Honor it is your solemnly sworn duty to hate who I hate."

"I already do." Emily smiled. "Now, go back to looking at cakes."

Caleb and Hanna went back to talking about wedding details. The venues. The flowers. The invitations. The catering. There was so much that went into it.

Emily wanted something like that with Alison. She was afraid they'd never get there if Charlotte kept disrupting their lives, but she'd been dreaming about asking Alison to marry her since they were kids.

Alison would likely want a big fanfare, but Emily wanted it to be low-key. She wanted it on the beach, as Hanna had correctly guessed when she was taken to Emily's favorite spot weeks ago.

She was drifting in and out of the conversation when an alert popped up on her phone.

Hanna went silent, but Emily wasn't deterred from looking at her phone.

"Max found a girl wandering the beach contemplating hurting herself." Emily stood up.

"Do not under any circumstances go out there to that vast ocean alone." Hanna glowered at her at the same time as Caleb warned,

"Take Ali." He sounded like an overbearing older brother.

"She's in the middle of something and this can't wait. I'm going to run across the hall and grab Samara or Zoe…whoever answers the door." Emily reached for a hooded sweatshirt that was laid over the back of her chair.

"Not so fast." Hanna clocked her with a frown of uncertainty. "Prove that it's really from Max and not some super-secret genius villain."

Emily rolled her eyes and swiped across her screen.

She presented Hanna with her phone.

Found a poor unfortunate soul with no princess charming. She was talking about walking into the ocean and never walking back. Runaway. She's in a bad way. Need a ride to the Alliance.

"Someone could have stolen his phone. What if it's from A?"

Emily once again rolled her eyes, but she humored Hanna. She hit the speed dial for Max and put it on speaker.

"It's my favorite Gloomy Gus," he answered, not bothering with hello. "What's wrong, Em?"

"You texted me. Why do you assume something is wrong with me?"

"Because you don't call people. You hiss at your phone when it rings." He laughed.

There was a good reason for that, but he didn't know that. He didn't know much about her sordid past.

"I call people!" Emily argued.

"No, you don't." Max snickered. "I'm assuming you got my S.O.S?"

"Yep. I'm going to recruit Samara and Zoe. We're on our way."

"Good. In the meantime perhaps I will soothe my new friend with showtunes," he suggested. "Or yodeling."

Emily heard a tiny timid laugh from somewhere in the background of his phone.

"You can yodel?" Hanna asked.

"Oh, hey Hanna." There was a pause. "Emily, you know the danger of putting me on speaker."

Emily looked at the blonde, her eyes screaming 'are you satisfied?'

"You're free to go." Hanna nodded.

"See you in a bit, Max." Emily said goodbye. She grabbed her keys and walked towards the door. "Bye, Caleb."

She intentionally ignored Hanna.

"I'm just trying to make sure you don't get yourself killed!" Hanna took offense to Emily snubbing her.

A little snicker escaped Caleb's mouth.

"Don't you dare laugh." Hanna warned him and then turned her attention back to Emily. "Em, come on! Who's your favorite friend?"

Emily had to hide the huge grin on her face.

"Aria." The tall swimmer reached for the door knob without turning around.

"Lies!" Hanna exclaimed. "Don't make me regret making you my Maid of Honor!"

Seconds later a throw pillow smacked the wall beside Emily.

"Bye." Emily replied quietly.

"Hey, tell me you love me!" Hanna demanded.

Emily couldn't hold back her laughter, so she scurried out the door mid-laugh.

"I should go after her, right?" Hanna asked.

"As her friend, I would say to give her the space she needs." Caleb saw the flicker of annoyance in Hanna's eyes. "But…as your soon-to-be-husband, I default to you being right about everything."

He flashed her the sappy innocent smolder that Hanna had fallen in love with years ago.

"No you don't." She snorted a laugh. "You have an opinion about everything in my life. And as annoying as it is, you're probably right about this. She'll be fine."

"She will be. But your fate is a little more uncertain given that you're there with Alison. And when she finds out Emily left she's going to be mad." Caleb grinned.

Hanna didn't look the least bit worried.

"Oh, please. I've spent the better part of a year running afoul of the most demanding boss in the world…"

"Afoul?" Caleb looked at her curiously.

"It means 'in conflict with'. I remember it from the SATs." She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. "I know fancy words. My vocabulary is more enhanced than you all realize. And I most certainly can hold my own against Alison DiLaurentis."

Fifteen minutes later she was singing a different tune.

When the blonde finally emerged from the bedroom the first thing she noticed was Emily's absence.

She saw Hanna sitting on the couch sending an e-mail to her boss.

"Where's Emily?"

"Work." Hanna shrugged. "An Alliance thing came up."

"And you didn't think to tell me?" She looked positively affronted.

"You would have me to barge in on you while you're singing Gaga in the shower?" Hanna asked in amusement.

"You could hear that?" Alison lifted a meticulous brow.

"Just a guess."

"You could have knocked." Alison scowled.

"And gotten an eye-full like Aria did?" Hanna scoffed. "No thanks."

"I can't believe you just let her go."

Hanna stared at her, unblinking.

"Someone needed her help. And she's a full grown adult, Ali."

"An adult with a propensity to make dangerous choices."

"I'm aware. I told her to be careful. I talked to Max. She's fine."

"Oh." She pulled her phone out and pulled up her text messages. "Still…"

She swiped her index finger across the screen and sent Emily a message,

I want proof that you're alive.

"How long ago did she leave?"

"I don't know. Around twenty minutes?" Hanna guessed, finishing up her e-mail. She closed her laptop and looked up. "You know she can take care of herself, right?"

Hanna had given Emily a hard time, but she was aware of Emily's strengths, both physically and emotionally.

"I do." Alison stared at her phone, willing it to spring to life with a message from her girlfriend. "I also know she takes on entirely too much."

"She can handle a lot. More than I ever knew." Hanna had a look in her eyes that Alison couldn't quite distinguish. "You know when we were stuck in that stupid bunker she's the only one who held it together." Her features softened into a vulnerability that Alison had never seen in her before. "I always assumed it was because of her parents. Her dad being in the military. Her mom being…her mom."

They both laughed. There were no words in the English language that did Pam Fields justice. Hanna had discovered a newfound respect for Emily's mother when she found out that Pam had stayed with her mother in the hospital while they were trapped in the Dollhouse.

"Emily may have inherited certain things from her parents, but in that hellhole…it was just her. She took on the impossible. Even when things were really bad…she was there for us. I still don't know how she managed."

"Compartmentalization," Alison said softly.

She'd heard Emily say it enough, and she knew it's exactly what the brunette would say if she was there.

"Whatever it was…it got us all through it." Hanna subtly reached up to wipe her cheeks, hoping that Alison wouldn't see the wetness forming underneath her eyes.

Alison was kind enough not to point it out.

"Your girlfriend is a badass warrior, Ali." There were no pretenses, no humor inflected into her tone. "You're lucky to have her."

There was something emotionally raw in her voice. There was no mistaking the fact that Hanna loved Emily. Hanna's affection would have bothered Alison when they were teenagers, but she had learned a lot about the intricacies of friendship since then.

"I know you love her." Hanna paused to consider the moment she'd shared with Emily on the beach. "And she's loved you since the moment you two met."

Undeniably Destined. That's what Hanna had said to Emily that night as she stood on the shore next to Emily.

"I've always known that she would do pretty much anything for you." Hanna peered down at the engagement ring Caleb had gotten her. "What I didn't know was that you would do the same for her." She twisted the ring on her finger and then looked up. "Love is complicated. Especially for us…"

"Because of our past?" Alison assumed.

"Being in love with someone who went through it with you isn't easy. The darkness will always be there. Caleb and I have had our ups and downs. We're okay now, but it took a lot of work to get here. It took time for us to separate out our feelings without the trauma. We had to rediscover who we were individually. And I know you and Em reacquainted yourselves when you came out to Malibu, but everything we went through…everything we're still going through…it's always going to be a part of your relationship."

"If this is supposed to be a pep-talk, you really suck at it." Alison frowned sarcastically.

Hanna shot her a smarmy smile, but it faded into something softer…something warmer.

"I just want you to have a realistic idea of what to expect. I know you're both putting in the work, but there is an added layer because of all the trauma."

"I'm not going to let my sister hurt her again."

"The damage is already done. I think you know that." Hanna twitched, a flash of her past trouncing through her mind. "It's not about the future. It's about what happened in the past. You'll both overcompensate."

Alison knew she was right. Emily had left for the beach to help someone in need…and she was already running through the worst case scenario in her head.

Emily did the same thing. She turned into a bodyguard every time they left the condo.

"How long did that stage last with you and Caleb?" Alison asked.

"We started in that stage." Hanna chuckled. "He was so afraid something would happen to me that he was practically my shadow."

"Yet…here you are halfway across the country while he's sitting in your apartment coddling a cat."

"He spoon-feeds Cheese. I think he loves him more than me." Hanna shook her head with a laugh.

"So…we should get a cat to help us find that balance?" Alison asked.

"One does not simply get a cat. They choose you." Hanna held up her index finger to make a point. "However, given Emily's propensity to save helpless creatures I would assume it's only going to be a matter of time before you're sharing your bed…and your woman…with a pet."

"How did you and Caleb make everything work after you left Rosewood?"

"A lot of sex at first." She grinned.

"Well, I can check that box off." Alison smirked. "We've even spiced it up a bit."

"I will be telling the story about the dildo at your wedding." Hanna replied flippantly.

"I'm surprised you think there will be a wedding for me and Emily after all the doom and gloom stuff you just brought up."

"There is a reason I brought it up." Hanna pulled her knees up on to the couch and made herself more comfortable. "I'm not Jenna. I can see the way Emily looks at you…the way you look at each other. Caleb and I look at each other the same way. I don't doubt you two will figure out it, but I wanted to be real with you."

"I suppose I can understand that."

"I love you two. And I'm rooting for you." It meant the world to Alison to hear her say it. "I just wanted you to know that the feelings you're going to encounter are normal. There is a balance, but I think you'll find it. If I've learned anything staying with you two it's that you always find a way."

"Is that why you wanted to stay here and not at the hotel with Aria and Spencer?" Alison asked. "To observe us?"

"No. Why? Do you want me out?" She didn't seem offended.

"Of course not. I'm just curious." Now more-so than ever. She was seeing a very different side of Hanna. "You've always loved luxury, and it wouldn't have been on your dime. But when offered a choice you didn't hesitate to choose this couch."

"If you want the honest truth…I go where Em goes, especially this time." Her eyes drifted away. "Especially because she has a gun in the bedroom. We've always looked out for each other. And this time is no exception." Hanna picked at her manicure. "After we got help for our PTSD…when she was ready…she took me to the range. I know how to use it."

"I've had a couple of lessons, but I don't like guns." Alison shuddered.

"I don't either. But I learned anyway. For the rest of you." Hanna rubbed at a small scar underneath her left index finger on her knuckle. "We all learn how to survive in our own way. Spencer sees the threats coming and can generally deflect the first blow with intellect. Emily has a habit of finishing what she starts. She's not afraid to take risks. Even Aria…our little dreamer…though she might take the scenic route…she always gets where she needs to in the end with her MMA training."

Hanna lowered her hand and looked out the window.

Alison didn't have to see her face to know she was lost in the memories of the Dollhouse.

"I don't work like that." Hanna slowly turned to look at Alison again. "My brain doesn't work like that. I'll start where everyone else starts. Then I'll make a wrong turn and end up at the intersection of Highway 41 and pink turtles. But if there is one thing I can do right…it's learn from them. And what I've learned from Emily was how to fire that pistol she keeps locked up."

"Maybe I should ask her to train me with it more. She rarely takes it out of our bedroom though."

Hanna's lips twitched into a smile, the burden of her emotions seemingly dissipating.

"Speaking of guns in the bedroom…" Hanna lifted her glass like she was preparing to make a toast.

"Thought you were saving the dildo jokes for my wedding." Alison rolled her eyes.

"Fair point." Hanna sipped her drink and peered over the rim at Alison. "On a scale of one to ten, how much do you hate me for taking you in that sex shop?"

"Seventeen." Alison stared at her, not a flicker of emotion on her face.

"Okay, Drama Queen. I said a scale of one to ten." Hanna rolled her eyes.

"Oh. In that case…" Alison paused and then deadpanned, "One hundred and seventeen."

Hanna opened her mouth to reply, but Alison's phone jumped to life.

Once Alison saw that it was Emily she moved at lightning speed to answer it.

"If you're dead I'm going to be very angry."

"Don't worry. She's fine." Zoe answered with a soft laugh.

She had been the one to answer the door when Emily knocked. She'd already been dressed, her hair tied and twisted in locs on top of her head.

"Max?" Zoe had asked, holding up the keys to the van.

"Max." Emily had nodded.

Max had texted Zoe, too.

"Samara is at the Alliance. I was going to run by to help her anyway. Come on. Let's go."

Now they were at the beach, meeting up with Max and the young runaway.

"Where is she?"

If Zoe noticed Alison's curt tone she didn't mention it. Samara and Zoe knew tensions were really high, and they didn't judge them for it.

"She's at the closed down cabana at the edge of the beach. I saw your text and didn't want you to worry."

"I trust you implicitly, Zoe," Alison said. "But I still need proof of life."

"Give me a minute. She's coming this way with the girl's things." There was shuffling on the line and then a conversation muted out by the sounds of the wind.

"Max…still talking…" The voice was hard to distinguish, but it sounded like Emily. "Alison…" was all the blonde could make out of the reply.

"Proof of life, Zoe." Alison pressed.

There was more shuffling on the line.

A minute later a picture came through. A selfie of Zoe and Emily. Emily's hands were full with bags. Zoe was holding the phone. Waves were cresting in the water in the background.

"She's been on the streets for a while," Zoe remarked.

It took Alison a minute to realize she was talking to Emily about the girl and not to her.

"Max said she mentioned something about emptying the bags out and filling them with rocks…" Emily managed to keep her tone even. "Ali?"

She clearly had the phone now. Emily had probably handed Zoe the bags so she could handle Alison's questions.

"For what?" Alison asked.

It was only then that she remembered what Hanna had told her.

"Someone is in trouble."

"Weights to bury a body?" Alison's mind went to the darkest depths.

Emily tried to compose herself, but Alison could tell she was rattled.

"Yeah. Her own." It stunned the blonde into silence. "She's struggling. I might be a little while at the office."

Sometimes Alison forgot the intensity of Emily's job. Being a lifeguard was one thing. The danger was clear and present and easy to spot, but the weight of emotional turmoil wasn't always as apparent when it came to the kids the Alliance helped.

Most of the time people came in scared and lonely and looking for basic necessities to live. But sometimes people came to them haunted and broken beyond repair.

Alison was reminded of something Emily had said to her about not carrying her gun outside of the condo because of it.

"I work with emotionally traumatized kids at the LGBTQ Alliance."

Alison hadn't understood the gravity of that until she met the young trans boy who had wanted an abortion. They'd had to walk through the fiery pits of a Karen-filled hell just to get him treatment.

"Do you need help?" Alison felt the sudden urge to be there…to make the girl on the beach feel better.

"It's slow right now. We have enough help to go around. Besides, she seems to have developed a fondness for Max…and his yodeling."

"Max yodels?"

"I wish I could say I hate it, but…"

"He's good at it, isn't he?"

"He is."

"Let me know if you need anything." Alison knew that Emily was needed there and she didn't want to hold her up. "I love you."

"Love you, too." Emily smiled back.

Sometimes those three little words was all it took to make them both feel better.

Emily put her phone in her back pocket and helped Zoe load the young girl's bags in the van. Max was still sitting with her on the shoreline singing songs from The Little Mermaid.

"Did you get any history?" Zoe questioned, staring at the two younger kids in the distance.

Zoe's words were lost somewhere in the wind.

Emily had done a decent job of acting okay for Alison, but she was struggling with a bout of anxiety.

A breeze rolled in and chill hit the base of her neck. The tiny fine hairs on her skin prickled up. Like an animal being hunted in the wild, her senses were heightened. She could taste the salt water and feel tiny granules of sand hitting her face. Her heart rate sped up for the second time in less than an hour.

Despite giving Hanna a hard time before she'd left, it had crossed Emily's mind that someone might have been using Max to lure her out to the beach to hurt her.

Even knowing the risk, Emily didn't hesitate...because Max was in the middle. And she didn't want him to get hurt.

Nothing had seemed out of the ordinary at first, but when they'd pulled in to park she'd seen a large dark SUV in the distance.

She had almost said something to Zoe, but she knew she'd sound paranoid. Even though she had good reason to be worried, her main concern was Max and the girl.

The SUV hadn't been around for very long, but even after she saw it pull away she couldn't help but look over her shoulder.

Her eyes darted to another passing SUV in the distance.

Time seemed to slow down. She waited for something dreadful to happen. Dizziness wafted over her. It was as if the world around her had gone quiet.

The panic that had been buzzing through her skin seized her, squeezing every molecule in her body tight. Her ears started ringing and her fingers went numb. She had to work to breathe. The stabbing sensation she felt in her ribs was so excruciating that she had to hold back a scream.

Breathe in…

She knew she needed to pull it together.

If she had a panic attack just because there were other cars around she'd drive herself insane.

Breathe out…

The vehicle passed without incident.

"Em?" Zoe tried to shake her out of her head. "What do we know about this kid?"

"Elena Martinez. She's from Phoenix, Arizona. Just turned sixteen. Her mother died when she was a baby. She was raised by her extremely religious father. He found her in church making out with another girl. Tried to send her to one of those brainwashing camps that prays away the gay."

"I hate conversion camps." Zoe frowned. "They're so harmful. I'd sue them all out of oblivion if I could."

"I might have a lawyer for that. I'm sure Spencer could get someone on retainer." Emily offered. She'd gladly aid in shutting the camps down. "Elena got kicked out of the camp she was in. Her dad tried to send her again. When she refused he told her to get out. So she ran away. That was about two months ago. She's been on the streets ever since."

"My God." Zoe shook her head. "How has she been surviving?"

"No idea." Emily closed the van door and scanned the parking lot. "How do any of us survive?"

She had survived dozens of things that should have killed her. Yet she continued to persevere.

They saw Max and Elena standing and shaking the sand off of their clothes. They started walking across the beach towards the parking lot where Emily and Zoe were waiting.

"She seems to feel safe with him." Zoe pointed out.

"Everyone feels safe with him." Emily chuckled, but then her face soured. "Except assholes and homophobes."

She was protective of Max. She was protective of all the kids she'd helped at the Alliance. It scared her sometimes. She was worried they might get hurt if someone was after her.

"It's a good thing he was here. I don't know much else about her history. I only got the cliffnotes version from Max. But I can only imagine the hell she's been through."

She tried not to think about Charlotte…and failed.

Alison had memories from before Charlotte had become a tyrant. The blonde didn't seem so sure of those memories, but they seemed pretty real when she talked about them.

Emily often wondered what would have happened to Charlotte if she'd come from a loving family…or at least had the proper support.

She was well-aware that Charlotte made the conscious choice to hurt an entire town full of innocent people, but that didn't stop her from asking what-if.

Emily wanted to do better for the next generation of kids. Not only because of Charlotte, but because she knew what it was like to struggle. She knew what it was like to feel unaccepted.

Max reached them first. The girl was a few steps behind him, like she was using him as a shield.

"She's a little shy." He waved at Emily and Zoe. "Thanks for answering my Max-signal."

"Max-signal?" The girl's curiosity got the better of her.

"Like the Bat-signal for Batman, but cooler." Max gave her an enthusiastic grin. "And gayer."

Elena went silent again, her eyes assessing Emily and Zoe.

She looked so much younger than sixteen, but her eyes were aged beyond her years. Her naturally tan skin and slick black hair were damp from what Emily presumed was her trying to bury her pain…and herself…in the ocean.

"It's okay. They're my friends. I promise you they don't bite." Max coaxed Elena towards them.

The poor girl looked completely overwhelmed.

"Hi, Elena. I'm Emily. And this is Zoe." She gestured to her friend standing next to her. "Did Max tell you what we do at the Alliance?"

Elena didn't say anything, but she nodded.

"We have numerous resources. We can work on getting you a place to stay. And we can look into what might make you feel better. We have counselors on staff at all times."

"And if that doesn't help I can sing more showtunes." Max offered.

It earned a tiny smile from the silent teenager.

They seemed to have formed a bond. Then again, it was impossible not to bond with a loveable Golden Retriever puppy in human form.

She climbed into the van with him while Emily and Zoe got situated in the front of the vehicle.

Before they pulled off on to the main road Emily spotted another SUV…or potentially the same one…going in the same direction. The vehicle stayed at least two-car length's behind the van at all times, but it was too close for comfort.

This is a very populated state. There are tons of cars on the roads…

She tried to reason her paranoia away, but then she thought about Ezra's last text.

I'll know how to find you.

It was a bit ominous, even for a creep who had preyed on high school girls. There were a lot of nefarious people in the world. If Charlotte wanted to get to them she would find a way.

She was able to breathe a bit easier after they'd made a few turns and the SUV didn't follow.

The rest of ride back to the Alliance was uneventful.

It was quiet except for the hushed whispers of Max speaking to Elena in a mixture of Spanish and English. Jose had been teaching him, and he was a very quick study.

Zoe kept her eyes on the road, but Emily couldn't help but look back at the innocent kids she'd taken in…the kids the Alliance had taken in.

She thought about what she was willing to risk to keep them safe. How much danger was she putting them in by simply being in their lives?

It was an insecurity that ran deep, stemming from her roots in Rosewood. Everyone she'd ever cared about had been destroyed by the sick games played there.

How far would she go to make sure it never happened again?

Elena didn't say much when they walked into the lobby, though she seemed awe-struck by the welcoming atmosphere.

Emily even caught a tiny glimpse of a smile on her face when she saw a wall full of photos of kids just like her.

"You can be the next star." Max held his hands up, forming a triangle with both index fingers and his thumbs, framing her like he would a photograph.

"I'll get started on processing the paperwork. Samara and a few of the Board members are around and I'm sure they'll have some ideas for housing." Zoe suggested.

"One of these days I'll offer up a more efficient way to streamline our digital forms. Perhaps build a Rube Goldberg Machine...but for the internet." Max smiled.

"You will not be crashing our servers again with your wild intra-network inventions." Zoe shot him a look that said the IT team had still not recovered from the last time Max tried to fix something that wasn't broken.

"Rube Goldberg?" Elena seemed confused. "The Supreme Court Justice?"

"Ah, no. That's Ruth Bader Ginsberg…may she rest in peace." Max glanced towards the ceiling. He pressed his index finger and middle finger against his lips and kissed them before raising a peace sign into the air. "We miss you, RGB." He lowered his hand and faced Elena. "Rube Goldberg was an engineer…among other things. He created a bunch of awesome chain reaction machines."

"I'm not sure I understand."

"Did you ever play a game called Mousetrap as a kid?" Max looked delighted.

Elena shook her head.

"It's this really cool game where you build this seemingly unconnected device with all these moving pieces, but the clever part is…all those pieces trigger each other in a sequential order to catch a little toy mouse at the end. It's like…dominoes, but with more random pieces. I think we have it in the game room. Maybe we can play while we wait to get you processed."

"Okay." Elena nodded.

"I'll be back before you can say Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg." Max moved towards the door.

"You are a strange boy, Max." She laughed. "But I will wait for you."

"You going to be okay?" He paused before rushing into the hallway.

"Go and get your game."

"We have a meditation area that's a pretty relaxing place to shake off the nerves." Emily offered. "It's not much. Just a quiet room with a few plants and a noise machine."

"Si. Yes. I would like that." Elena looked down at her feet, avoiding eye contact.

Emily led Elena to the meditation room while Max dashed off to grab a game designed for five-year-olds.

"Would you like some water? Or something else to drink?" Emily pointed to a large cushioned chair next to a small flower in bloom.

"Please." She nodded.

Emily expected her to sit down, but when she returned with the water Elena was wandering the room.

"So pretty here." She delicately held the stem of a budding flower between her index and middle finger, "I notice we did not come in through the front." She dropped her hand and turned to look back at Emily. "Is it safe…for…for people like us?"

"As safe as can be." Emily didn't mince words.

She got the feeling that Elena had seen terrible things, and she was gun-shy.

Elena took the water that Emily offered and took a sip.

"Are you in any danger?" Emily asked.

Elena paused, taking a moment to try and address the question. After a few seconds she shook her head.

"No." She looked sad, lost. "But I am scared I might be a danger."

The way she said it didn't sound threatening. She sounded resolute. And terrified.

"I couldn't say it in front of him." Elena's mouth was dry. "Max, I mean. He's a very sweet boy. I don't know that he would understand."

"But you think I might?" Emily guessed.

"I see something in your eyes. A certain…como se dice…a heaviness in your heart. You have been hurt before."

"Everyone here has been hurt in some way." Emily replied.

"Si. True." She took a thoughtful breath and then sat down. "I knew people were going to hate me because I'm gay, but I never expected the hatred from my Papi. I thought he loved me." She teared up. "He thought something was wrong with me. A sickness. He was convinced El Diablo had come for me. Everything fell apart when he abandoned me. It did something to me I can't explain."

She reached for a tissue and tried to dry her eyes, but the tears didn't stop.

"I tried to be brave…tried not to let his hatred hurt me, but it was there. It festered, like poison growing in a garden. And I let that poison infect me. I didn't believe there was a point to anything anymore."

When Elena finally looked at Emily again, the expression in her eyes had darkened considerably. Her mouth was set in a tight grim line. There was a burning inferno deep within her.

"I was angry," she admitted with an embarrassed shake of her head. "I was very angry. And I wanted people to understand my anger. I wanted them to know what I felt like. I wanted them to hurt in the same way."

She stopped talking abruptly and dropped her head down and started sobbing. Emily wanted to reach out to her, but Elena didn't seem to be as comfortable with her as she was with Max.

"I was miserable and I thought the world should be miserable with me. I had these scary thoughts. Thoughts I'd never had before…about everyone who had hurt me." There was a flash of darkness in her eyes, replaced by a look of shame seconds later. "But I know in my heart I could not hurt anyone."

For some inexplicable reason…Emily thought about Charlotte again. About how she'd been abused and mistreated and shoved away into an institution by adults who were supposed to take care of her.

Charlotte had threatened to kill herself the night she'd been caught by the police. Emily couldn't help but wonder when it had become too much for her to manage.

Where was the line?

Would Charlotte have done what she did if someone had intervened when she was younger?

What would have happened if someone cared for her as a child?

Brain chemistry certainly played a role in people's actions, but there was room for argument when it came to Nature vs Nurture.

Emily thought of her own struggles…of how she'd dealt with shame and self-doubt before coming out…and how she'd dealt with heartbreak and anger over her mother's initial reaction.

Her mother had changed her mind and they were close now, but that didn't change the fact that when her mom hurt her she'd wanted to hurt her back. So she'd leaned on self-preservation and completely shut her out. When that didn't take her pain away she'd become destructive to herself instead.

Just like Elena.

"I knew I had to stop myself." Elena's voice brought Emily back to reality. "I thought if maybe…if I could just not be here anymore to be angry I could keep people safe." She bit her lip to stifle her crying and uttered under her breath, "Estupido. You probably think this is dumb and dramatic."

"Not at all." She understood the girl's self-destructive thoughts. "I've felt the way you feel right now. For me it was like falling and knowing that there was no net to catch me." Emily saw Elena tilt her head in curiosity, so she slowly continued, "I didn't think I could survive…didn't know if I wanted to survive."

Elena was nodding furiously in agreement, as if she was saying "someone understands. I'm not alone."

"The first time I felt that way it was like being shattered from the inside. The only thing I could feel was my pulse." Emily took a breath and allowed herself to go back to the moment a body had been found in Alison's yard.

The grim look on Maya's face should have been an indicator that something was wrong, but Emily wanted to believe in the best.

She'd been cheerfully optimistic, ready to run in and see her best friend again, but before she had the chance she heard seven words that caused her brain to short-circuit and her heart to stop,

"Emily, I'm sorry. They found Alison's body."

Her heart felt like it was in a vise. She had been able to feel it struggling…every painstaking beat.

And in that moment…she'd wanted it to stop beating. Because it hurt so badly.

"It's strange, because our heartbeat is a part of us from the moment we're born. Most of the time it's not something we feel on a molecular level. But there are moments when everything stops. And you have to remind yourself how to breathe. It can be both amazing and terrifying when you realize just how easy it would be to just stop breathing." Emily took a shaky breath. "I know what it's like to feel the blood rushing through your head…to give in to the urge to just close your eyes and be anywhere else."

It was a phenomenon that she'd dealt with since she was a little girl. She remembered crying in her mother's arms.

"Why does daddy have to go away?"

"What if he gets hurt?"

"What if he never comes home?"

The very thought of it had made her entire body feel like it was being slowly crushed, the air being stolen from her lungs.

Long before Mona had picked up the phone and started texting her anonymously she would jump when the phone went off, terrified of the news that might be on the other end of it.

What scared her more is just how determined she was in her resolve to make the pain go away.

She'd experienced that when she finally got the call about her dad. She didn't remember much of anything except the overwhelming pain, but she remembered going for the gun when she got home.

The feeling she'd felt as a child had never completely gone away. She'd just gotten better at hiding it with time.

It's why she had been so cautious as a child and why she sought out playing the hero when she got older.

"I know what it's like to be afraid of what you're capable of. And to seek a way out when you're feeling overwhelmed. It's like you're torn between the thoughts in your head and your heart's instinct to protect you."

There had been so many things that had set her off over the years.

She shuddered. She'd been near death so many times.

"I understand. I've been where you've been."

I live there.

"So what did you do?" Elena asked.

The thoughtful question generated a reply in kind,

"I had two choices. Fight or flight." Emily responded. "I chose fight."

"I didn't," Elena looked at the ground sadly.

"But you felt it." Emily pointed out.

"Yes."

"That's because your heart doesn't stop pumping when you're faced with those two options. And the fact that you felt that warning from your circulatory system means that your body was fighting to live."

There was a beat of silence as Elena tried to process what Emily was saying. The younger girl stared at Emily in awe.

Trepidation painted her features.

"I'm here now, but I don't know what to do," she replied softly.

"We'll help you figure it out." Emily gave her an encouraging smile.

Elena nodded. She seemed to be shutting down again.

"When do you think Max will be back with his rat maze?" She couldn't remember the name of the game he'd mentioned, but she'd tried her best.

"Soon. When he sets his mind to something he can accomplish impossible feats."

Max was a lot like Spencer when he was in focus mode. He had tunnel vision and an incredible eye to detail.

"He saved me from myself on the beach." She blinked, trying to navigate through what had happened. "I thought he was a very peculiar boy. He made me smile. Told me about his boyfriend. He talks a lot." She shot a shy look at Emily when the brunette chuckled. "I like talking to him, but I don't want to take away his joy."

"Max is very optimistic, but he's been through a lot, too. He'll understand. If you're comfortable talking to him…I know he'll be a great listener."

"It's nice to have friends." Elena turned towards Emily and smiled at her.

"Hopefully you'll still feel that way about him after you've seen what he's like when he's had four cups of espresso." She managed to get a genuine laugh out of the younger girl.

They heard rapid footsteps approaching.

Max appeared in the doorway with an old beat up box that showcased a child's game.

"Ta da!" He gave the box a little shake, jostling the pieces inside.

"This is your cure for my broken brain?" Elena asked, unable to stifle a little giggle.

"First of all, your brain isn't broken. Second of all…how dare you question my therapy credentials." Max mocked with a gasp. "I'll take this all the way to HR."

"I am HR." Emily turned towards Elena with a smile. "He's not one of our actual therapists."

Though she was starting to consider that perhaps he should be.

"Et tu, Brute?" Max looked at Emily dramatically, as if she'd betrayed him.

"You have read Julius Caesar." Elena seemed pleased.

"Oh, is that what that's from?" Max put the board game down on a table near a circle of potted plants.

"How is this game supposed to help?" The girl edged towards the table curiously as Max dug into the box.

"You seem to think that broken things can't be put back together in a way that works, but sometimes when you put pieces together it's better than it was the first time." Max grabbed a tiny bucket the size of a thimble.

It was very perceptive of Max to turn a child's game into a psychological release. In a way, his way of reaching Elena mirrored what Emily had said to the girl.

Pieces of the heart and soul functioned well once something had been set in motion, much like Rube Goldberg machines.

The two of them were immersed in a bonding ritual she didn't quite understand…nor did she want to impede on them, so she excused herself to go help with Elena's paperwork.

Then she helped Samara and Zoe get ready for an upcoming meeting with the Board.

Time seemed to slip through her fingers.

Samara and Emily rode back to the condo together while Zoe and Max got Elena shelter for the night.

Emily kept a look out for the SUV she'd seen earlier, but it was impossible to distinguish one from another with so many cars on the road.

"What did that Kia do to offend you?" Samara asked.

Emily kept her gaze fixed on the traffic.

"It's not hybrid or electric."

She had no way of knowing if that was true. She just needed an excuse. She didn't want to alarm her friend.

"Aria talked about getting a small electric fleet of cars for the Alliance." Samara watched the traffic in front of them. "She was very specific about the electric part."

"Did she really offer that?" It was more than enough to pull Emily's attention away from the ghost car she was looking for.

"Insisted might be a better word." Samara laughed. "She asked if we are planning on expanding locations to other cities."

"That would be amazing. Could we swing that?" There was a lot to be worked out financially, not to mention staffing the other locations.

"I think it's worth bringing up to the Board." Samara suggested. "It's not like we haven't talked about it before. Besides…" She glanced at Emily. "After seeing Max and Elena tonight...can you honestly tell me you wouldn't jump at the chance to expand what we have?"

"Of course I would." Emily smiled.

By the time they got back to the condos they were halfway through a brainstorm about pitching a proposal to the Board about it. She waved goodbye to Samara with a smile on her face.

When she walked into her living room she saw Hanna snoring on the couch. Hanna had one leg up against the back of the sofa and the other dangling over the arm of it.

She heard soft footsteps coming from the kitchen.

Alison quietly tiptoed into the living room holding a thermos of something Emily assumed to be coffee.

"It's about time." Alison whispered. "Hanna thought you were dead."

The look on her face was so delightfully expected…so comforting…that Emily couldn't help but bathe in normalcy.

"Mmhmm…" Emily peered at her snoozing friend with a grin on her face. "Did Hanna think I was dead or did you think I was dead?"

Hanna let out a snore that rivaled a chainsaw and rolled over on the couch.

Emily motioned for Alison to follow her into the bedroom.

"You ran off tonight." Alison frowned.

"I was perfectly safe," Emily said as she closed the bedroom door behind Alison.

"You always think you're safe…even when you're not." Alison scrutinized her. "Who was this mystery person you ran off to help?"

"She's just a kid." Emily assured her.

"So were we. Once upon of time. Have you forgotten what Mona was capable of when she was just a kid? What I was capable of?" The blonde stared at her, scolding her with her eyes. "What if this is an elaborate way to trap you somehow?"

"Then it was a lousy trap because I'm standing right here." Emily gestured to herself.

"False sense of security." Alison argued.

"She wasn't really interested in spending time with me. She wanted to be with Max." Emily grabbed a nightshirt and a fresh pair of underwear.

Alison felt her eyes narrow into slits. Emily could see the protective nature in the way she set her jaw. Somewhere along the way the blonde had basically adopted Max as her own…even though he was only four years younger than they were.

"If she hurts my Maximillion I will destroy her." Alison nodded decisively.

"He'd be delighted to hear that you would fight for his honor." Emily yawned, walking towards the bathroom.

She closed the door, leaving a small crack to let in fresh air as she got ready for bed.

She popped the medicine cabinet open and grabbed her facewash.

When she closed the cabinet she peered at her doppelganger. She poked at the puffy purple circles drooping underneath her eyes.

They still had so much to learn about the web that Charlotte had weaved.

James and Ezra had both been curveballs, though looking back Emily was surprised they hadn't seen their involvement sooner.

James had always been around in the background. He was the perfect spy for Charlotte. Ordinary and eerily good at blending in. He easily could have helped Charlotte bury her mother. The question is why he was loyal to her. Money? Love? Sex?

Ugh.

The images that appeared in her mind were entirely too graphic.

It didn't help shifting her mindset to Ezra.

Memories from her past were coming to the surface again.

Why did we think it was normal for him to stand around in his creepy little Santa boxers with the guys and Paige at Christmas?

It had seemed funny at the time. They'd had a rough holiday, and to make matters worse they were stuck in a cabin away from their parents.

Caleb, Toby, Ezra, and Paige had thought it would be fun to surprise them by stripping down to their underwear, but the image of Ezra from that night was burned into her brain.

She forced the memory from her mind and tried to focus on the present.

Under normal circumstances she would have been happy that Ezra was radio silent, but something didn't feel right about his erratic behavior. He said he'd be in touch and then he'd just vanished.

She felt dirty for texting him behind Aria's back. She wanted to know what he knew, but not at the expense of her friend.

She was worried he would try to weasel his way back into Aria's life. But he had to know if he tried that he would be facing the ferocity of four women who weren't afraid to punch below the belt. Liam would kick his ass, too. Toby and Caleb would probably help him.

Ezra Fitz was probably the most hated man in the world. His own brother had allegedly tried to run him over with a car.

She stared at her reflection once again before turning the faucet on and splashing her face with fresh water.

She washed her face and brushed her hair and her teeth. She changed out of her clothes and then made her way back into the bedroom.

She heard Alison muttering to herself, quietly cussing under her breath. Some of it was directed to her family and the rest of it was directed to the FBI agents disrupting their lives.

"There has to be someone we can sue." Alison grumbled as she went through her nightly routine of cleaning her face in front of the vanity and brushing her hair.

She mumbled several more obscenities and then started talking to herself again, oblivious to Emily's presence.

Emily leaned against the doorframe, watching as her girlfriend fought with her reflection about the injustices in their lives. It was refreshing to see the fire in Alison's eyes. She was a feisty little fighter, and that's one of the things Emily loved about her.

She felt the weight of the day floating off of her shoulders.

Alison spotted her in the mirror, and without turning around she made eye contact with Emily's reflection.

"Just because I'm plotting revenge against our enemies doesn't mean you're not in trouble for running off without me tonight."

"Okay." Emily smiled, still leaning against the wooden frame of the bathroom door. Alison was wildly cute when she went off on random tangents. "Can't wait to see how you punish me."

Alison's jaw went slack. She spun around and narrowed her eyes. She wasn't sure whether to be irritated or not.

She stared at her girlfriend, taking in her relaxed appearance.

Despite what they were facing, Emily gave off the impression that the world could implode and she'd just keep leaning against the doorframe and smiling at her. The apocalypse could be raging around them and the brunette would probably salute Death herself as long as she had her girl.

That was the thing about Emily. She muddled through the muck and stumbled through the darkness. And she persevered. She could come out of a hellscape and the first thing she would do when she saw her loved ones would be to smile.

Hanna had reminded Alison of that earlier.

"She took on the impossible. Even when things were really bad…she was there for us."

Alison knew that deep down the brunette fought her demons. But no matter what she was going through, Emily could always find a way to be Emily.

"I don't know whether to be annoyed or turned on." Alison studied Emily's posture and the cocky look on her face.

"Uh…what?" Emily blinked in confusion.

"You're oddly in control."

"And that's…" Emily tried to guess, "Bad?"

"I don't know yet." Alison raked her eyes over every contour of Emily's face. "You look like you're up to something."

"I'm always up to something."

"You're smiling at me." Alison pointed out.

"I like smiling at you." Emily made it a point to smile wider.

Sometimes it was the little things that mattered the most to Emily. She thought about all the times she'd seen her dad tease her mom, even when things in their lives were dire they still maintained their love. That's how Emily felt about Alison. It didn't matter how bad things got. She truly believed that their love was the answer to everything.

"But I'm annoyed." Alison cocked her head to the side.

"You're cute when you're annoyed. You get all 'grr' and it's adorable." She mimicked a snarl. "Scary, but adorable."

"Why are you so calm? We have a psychopath making our lives miserable and we have the cops waiting for us to step one foot out of line. We're basically back in Rosewood."

Emily pushed herself off of the doorframe, the playful pretenses falling away.

"I know."

Alison noticed the dramatic shift in her attitude immediately.

"I wasn't trying to be bitchy…" She stood up and moved away from the vanity.

Emily smiled softly at her.

"It's not that." If anything, Alison's attitude made her feel normal. It was part of who she was…and in turn it was part of who they were together. "If anything, coming home to you reminded me of how lucky I am."

She was lucky because she had people in her life who cared about her…who loved her. Not everyone was that fortunate.

"That kid I went to help tonight…" Emily walked over and sat down against the edge of the bed. "I saw some of myself in her."

Alison didn't say anything as she crossed the room and sat down next to Emily. She looked at her intensely.

"You're not struggling again, are you?" Alison couldn't help but look at the closet where Emily kept her gun.

"No." Emily turned toward Alison, a weak smile on her face. "I just thought about back when I was lost. And…oddly…about Charlotte. And about people who find support services in time...and those who don't." She paused, trying to find the words, "We can't change what happened. We can't fix the past. But tonight…" She took a thoughtful breath. "Tonight I was reminded of how easy it is to end up in the deep end."

Alison tried to fight the memories of her older sister. Charlotte hadn't always been a monster. She'd heard Jason say it enough times. It hurt to know that Charlotte could have been different…that they could have been a family.

The problem was that no one got to her in time to help her.

Alison looked at Emily…really looked at her. She could see the pain written all over her face. She could tell that Emily was thinking about what would have happened if Max hadn't been at the beach.

Alison understood Emily's obsessive nature to help those in need. She was trying to intervene before it was too late.

"Max said she mentioned something about emptying the bags out and filling them with rocks…"

"Is she going to be okay?" Alison asked.

"Max got to her in time." Emily nodded absentmindedly.

There was a beat of silence.

"I wish…" Then Alison paused, knowing that it was selfish to even think it, much less say it.

But Emily finished for her,

"That Charlotte was given a chance?" She didn't flinch.

There was no hint of anger in her voice.

She could tell by Alison's reaction that she'd guessed right.

Their hands naturally linked together, their fingers lacing and their palms touching.

They shared a quiet intimate moment. The air in the room was tangible.

Alison took a quivering breath, trying to center herself.

Emily cupped her cheek.

"It's not wrong for you to love the child she once was. It's not even wrong to love her now. You can love someone and hate their actions."

"Loving someone…but not liking them. Strange concept." Alison frowned. She didn't feel the same love for her sister she once had. "I know there is no way to fix what she's done, but I think a lot about how she was broken in the first place."

Emily thought about Max and his Mousetrap idea. He'd wanted to show Elena that broken bits and pieces could be used to build a new foundation.

Even listening to the enthusiasm in Max's voice she had known it wasn't entirely true…not for everyone.

Not for Charlotte.

But what if there were more resources? What if Aria's suggestion of expansion could become a reality? What if they could save people who were on the verge of shattering?

"Samara and I talked about expanding the Alliance to other cities tonight." Emily raked her fingertips through Alison's hair. "It was Aria's idea."

"I'm not surprised. Aria knows a thing or two about piecing a life back together." Alison smiled sadly. "I know it's too late for my sister though. Those memories…the ones that I don't want to have…"

Carnivals and Cupcakes.

Hugs and Laughter.

"They don't exist. Not anymore." They were just moments frozen in time.

"Ali…" Emily tucked a tendril of hair behind Alison's ear and lifted her chin. "It's okay if the memories mean something to you."

"No. I'm tired of my past dictating our future. When we're all gone no one will ever know the difference. Time might be infinite, but our time is finite." Alison reached for Emily's hand.

"Time is just a construct." Emily curled her fingers into Alison's. "It doesn't have meaning unless we give it meaning, but it's a companion in our lives...whether we realize it or not."

"Until we die." Alison stared down at the floor, crinkling her nose like she smelled something sour.

"Love the optimistic outlook." Emily offered a sarcastic quip.

"I've come a long way from 'It's immortality, my darlings'." Alison chuckled softly. "I thought there was something romantic to be said about those who were loved and idolized long after they were gone. I thought I was being grown up and sophisticated. I didn't realize how much people hated me."

"Everyone hates everyone in high school." Emily tried to make her feel better.

"I know Lucas wrecked the memorial you and the girls built for me. And I read my memorial page." Alison's lips twisted into a grimace. "Though I guess technically it was more like a roast the bitch page. That's when I learned that not everyone is romanticized in death. It was shocking, but humbling. Because before that I was conceited enough to believe otherwise. I thought time would be kind to me even though I wasn't a kind person. I think part of me was relying on time to soften my edges. It didn't even occur to me that I should soften them myself."

"You always had it in you." Emily's fingers grazed Alison's soft cheeks as she straightened her hair.

"You think so?" Alison felt like melting when she looked into Emily's eyes.

When she saw the light in her girlfriend's eyes it was like the whole room was humming.

"I do. The way you looked at me." Emily's eyes stayed locked on Alison's. "The way you reached for me. I felt that. Even when you stopped looking at me and stopped reaching for me I knew there was a part of you that cared. The others thought I was crazy for loving you back then. But I didn't care. I knew what I felt."

"How?" How could she have possibly looked at her back then and seen anything beyond who they were?

Emily took Alison's chin in her hands and tilted it up, making sure she had her girlfriend's complete and undivided attention.

"You look at your past and all you see is your mistakes. I get that. It's easier to romanticize the bad. I'm not saying it's not important to own our mistakes. We should. But it's just as important to hold on to the good things." Emily smiled. "You want to know what I remember about the day you talked about immortality?"

Alison remembered that day very clearly. It was warm and balmy out. They'd been lounging around and enjoying the sun. She had barely been able to keep her eyes off of Emily.

"We went to the Kissing Rock." Alison edged forward. "I'll never forget the way you looked at me. You were the very first person who saw me as human. You cared. I could feel it in those kisses."

Nothing in her life had ever been simple, least of all her feelings for Emily. Yet when it was just the two of them it made sense to her.

Back then she'd always found ways to ruin it, whether it was denying her own feelings or taking jabs at Emily's sexuality.

She'd self-sabotaged, and things fell apart.

But over the years she had come to understand that even when things fell apart…they could come back together again.

She was done breaking things.

She leaned in, Emily's palms guiding her face. Their lips brushed together. It was gentle at first. Then it was all adrenaline and wild beating hearts. Alison felt a need to keep that feeling going…and to make sure Emily felt it, too.

It was as if they needed each other. Oxygen to flame.

Their bodies were a perfect fit, Emily's toned muscles and Alison's petite curvy frame that melded into Emily's.

When they kissed again it came laden with memories.

Swimming together. Painting each other's nails. Laughing at a TV show. Innocent kisses. Intimate moments.

"That's why I love you. You're big on happy endings."

Their minds knew one another just as well as their bodies. It reminded Alison that even when everything else in her life was going to shit…Emily was the one thing in her life that felt right.

Her warm sunshine.

Her light in the dark.

Her mermaid.

"Pip gets Estella in the end."

When Emily finally pulled away they were both breathing heavy. She leaned her forehead against Alison's, her breath coming out in short shuddery bursts.

Alison smiled at her, equal parts pleased and surprised that she was still able to reduce the brunette to the quivering breathless beauty in her arms.

It was times like these that reminded them that the fire that burned the hottest was the simplicity between them. Whenever either of them was feeling lost all they had to do was look into each other's eyes.

Alison reached out and tucked Emily's hair away from her face. The strands dragged against her neck, leaving goosebumps in their wake.

Alison could see a dozen different emotions flashing through the brunette's soft brown eyes. It was impossible to decipher them all.

"Those kids at the Alliance are lucky to have you. And so are the people on the beach." Alison twirled some of Emily's hair around her fingertips. "I should know. I was one of those strays you rescued."

"I've given up on properly training you." Emily gestured to the vanity with a smile.

It was covered in moisturizer, facial wipes, a gentle massager for her cheekbones, and about a dozen different nail polish bottles and nail polish remover.

"Well, I have learned one valuable lesson." Alison had a crooked smile on her face. "Not to bring my toys out when we have company over."

"Have you heard Hanna snoring? She could sleep through an Earthquake…during the middle of a nuclear war." Emily winked.

Emily slid her fingertips down Alison's arms. Alison licked her lips when her palms landed against her thighs.

"Don't tempt me." The blonde warned.

Emily bit her lip, holding back a smile. The look on Alison's face didn't match what she was saying. But she didn't prod any further.

"I know I've been short-tempered, Em." Alison slowly moved her hand up underneath Emily's pajamas, her fingertips grazing her stomach. "But until this thing with my sister is over I don't want you out of my sight. You get that, right?"

Emily nodded. Of course she understood. She felt the same way.

"Good." Her voice came out low and husky. "I failed you back in Rosewood, but I won't let that happen again."

"You didn't fail me, Alison." Emily argued, her voice dropping an octave to match Alison's. "Not then. Not now."

"You keep people safe. That's what you do." It's what she'd done in Rosewood and it's what she'd done tonight. "The least I can do is do the same for you. I love you. More than anything. You have no idea what I would do to keep you safe. And I won't apologize for that."

Alison reached for Emily's cheek.

How can someone be so delicately precious and so insanely wild at the same time?

It was the sincerity of her touch that showed the true passion behind Emily's eyes. She was resilient and strong, but there was a fragile vulnerability underneath her suit of armor. And she wasn't afraid to show those weak moments to Alison.

Alison put her hands on the back of Emily's head, gripping her hair as she kissed her…hard. Emily kissed her back harder, her gentle hands a juxtaposition to her needy desire. She ran her palm along Alison's back, pulling her closer.

Alison laid back on the bed, bringing Emily down on top of her. She let out a meek little cry when she felt Emily's thigh between her legs.

Emily smiled and pulled back to press her finger against Alison's lips to shush her.

Before she could move her hand Alison pursed her lips and gripped Emily's wrist so she could pull her fingertips into her mouth.

They audibly popped when she moved her head to the side and let them go. Seconds later she felt Emily's heated breath against the side of her neck, her tongue hot against her skin.

Alison moved again and captured her lips as her hands slid underneath Emily's shirt, moving until she was cupping her breasts.

Emily mewled into their kiss. She used one hand to hold herself up while the other moved in between Alison's legs.

Alison inhaled sharply and arched into her touch. She yanked one of her hands out from under Emily's pajama top to grasp her bicep.

Emily moved her thigh in time with her hand, the motion the perfect mixture of pressure.

Alison slapped her hand over her mouth and bit down to keep the noises to a minimum. A muffled "Emily" made it through her palm.

Moments later she was gasping to catch her breath.

Emily helped her slowly come down from her high, but they quickly regained their steam.

They were on their way to round two, sans clothes, when they heard footsteps thumping against the floor and the refrigerator door being opened.

They both stopped and stared at the door, which was closed and locked this time. Alison would have shoved the dresser in front of it if Emily would have let her.

They heard what sounded like voices.

"They're in the bedroom. Haven't heard an 'Oh, God' yet, so they're probably not that far into it."

Emily nearly fell on top of Alison, but shifted so the full brunt of her weight wouldn't crush her.

This time it was Alison who shushed Emily, giggling as she put her index finger against Emily's bruised lips.

"How do you even know that?" Spencer's voice was echoing from a phone's speaker.

"Alison is a great actress, but she's not exactly winning any awards for being subtle. She's a moaner."

"Takes one to know one!" Alison called out.

"Really, Ali?" Emily snorted out a laugh and sat up, straightening her pajamas. "Don't encourage her."

"Em is loud, too. I used to live with her. My bedroom was like a lesbian orgy…"

"She knows we can hear her." Alison gestured to the door.

"Yeah, I figured that out."

Emily stood up and took several strides towards the door.

She unlocked it and swung it open to find Hanna standing in front of it, grinning at her and holding her phone up to show Spencer's face.

"See? I told you. They haven't even taken their clothes off. You owe me twenty dollars." Hanna turned the phone around and looked at Spencer.

"We didn't bet on anything." Spencer replied. "We've only been talking for sixty seconds, and that's not why I called…"

"The orgasms Emily gives last way longer than sixty seconds." Hanna argued.

"No lies told." Alison uttered with a smile.

"How do you even know how long…" Spencer stopped herself. "You know what? Never mind. I don't want to know."

"Like I said, we were roommates once…" There was a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Emily rolled her eyes. Hanna looked wildly proud of herself.

"You know you're just throwing gasoline on the fire, right?" Alison kicked the covers away and hopped out of the bed.

"You're welcome. I'm sure it will be a lovely fire." Hanna nodded, not one hint of shame in her tone.

Alison sauntered up next to Emily.

"I apologize for her." The phone's screen was facing Hanna, but it was clear Spencer was talking to the couple. "If I wasn't trying to get everything together for my flight I might have been thinking clearly and I would have called one of you instead."

"They wouldn't have answered. They were busy." Hanna insisted with a wink.

"They're going to throw you out on your ass if you keep it up." The politician-in-training warned.

"She's not wrong." Aria appeared in the background of Spencer's video.

She was helping Spencer pack.

"That goes in the burgundy bag." Spencer pointed.

"But that bag doesn't have any room left." Aria stopped walking, her hands full.

"Because you packed things in the burgundy bag that are supposed to go in the black tote."

"How was I supposed to know that? You ran off to take that call."

"I left you a list." Spencer pointed to something offscreen.

"Spence…it's all going to the same place." Hanna smiled crookedly.

"I have a system. It makes the flight easier." Spencer took a pile of folded clothes from Aria.

"So you officially booked your flight?" Alison took Hanna's phone from her.

"Yeah. About an hour ago. I leave tomorrow afternoon. Mom wanted me on a red-eye tonight, but I'm not quite ready to go." Spencer re-folded something and put it aside.

"Sounds like she wants her best intern back." Emily leaned closer to the phone.

"Unfortunately we can't stay here forever." Spencer had been moody when her mother insisted that she book a flight back to DC, but she was downright pissy now. "Mom told me that the best thing to do right now is focus on my future."

Veronica Hastings had put all her trust in her associate's wife. She knew Jerica would handle any problems that might arise. But Spencer wasn't too keen on giving up her front row seat to the insider information about the case.

"Sorry. I'm getting off track. I…"

"I'm glad I have an entire week." Hanna grabbed her phone back, interrupting Spencer. "I have an early spring break. Thanks to Alison, my boss got to impress her bosses and I'm being rewarded with something decent for once. She got me a room down the street." She looked pointedly at Alison and Emily to let them know they'd have their privacy back. "Beach view. Caleb is going to fly out."

As much as Alison had meant it when she'd told Hanna that she wasn't interested in making her leave the condo, she was glad they were going to have their privacy back.

"What about Cheese?" Aria asked.

"The Agent of Chaos will be in the hands of a very sweet old pet-sitter who spoils him."

"Liam and I are taking Argos with us to Italy. After we spend a week with his cousin we're going to kick off our book tour." Aria took Spencer's phone from her and let her take over the packing.

"God, that sounds like a dream." Emily murmured with a smile. "This is good. This is us getting back to normal."

And it gets you away from the Ezra drama…

"How exactly did you score beachfront for a week for work?" Alison looked at Hanna in suspicion.

"I'm an excellent employee!" She feigned offense at the question.

"You told her you would get more material with me, didn't you?" Alison's lips twitched into an amused smile.

Hanna grinned.

"She's sending more of her designs."

"Can everyone just shut up for a minute?" Spencer snatched her phone back from Aria. "I have been trying to tell you all something, but this conversation got entirely derailed."

"What's got your panties in a twist? Aria fold them wrong?" Hanna asked.

"Toby called." She looked at Aria. "That's the call I had to take…" She paused, "…and I'm just now realizing that going from talking about panties to talking about Toby is probably the worst segue ever."

Hanna held back the joke on the tip of her tongue when she saw how upset Spencer looked.

"Did he hurt you? Did he break your heart? I will kill him." Hanna scowled.

"No. It's nothing like that." The expression in her eyes softened. "He called because he found something while visiting his mom in the graveyard."

"Is it Bud? Is he okay?" Emily's eyes widened.

"He's fine. And it's not about the car parked there either. It's about Theodore Kim."

"Did someone finally catch him?" Aria asked hopefully.

"No." Spencer shook her head. "He's been dead for thirty years."

There was a shocked silence, followed by everyone whispering over each other.

"What?" Aria asked at the same time as Hanna's,

"Why the hell didn't you lead with that?"

"Because you wouldn't stop talking." Spencer replied dryly.

"He's dead?" Alison asked in disbelief.

"Toby saw a grave for him after getting lost in the graveyard. He called Bud to make sure it was legitimate. Bud confirmed it was in their database. Toby is going to watch for visitors. I'm trying to find information on the death, but nothing back then was digital, so it's not as simple as pushing a button. I might have to go old school microfiche on this."

"Microfiche?" Hanna asked. "That really old machine that pulls up ancient news articles written back when dinosaurs ruled the Earth? My Grandmother showed me one in a museum once."

"Focus, Han." Aria uttered.

"We're sure this Theodore is the same person we've been after?" Alison questioned.

"If this was someone named Brian Smith or John Williams I would say it's a possibility that it's just someone who shares a common name. But given that Theodore Kim is a rare name, I'm pretty sure this ties together." Spencer nodded. "Toby is going to confirm everything with Caleb, but there is a grave with this guy's name on it."

Hanna seemed to have trouble putting everything together. She touched her finger to her chin,

"So he clearly didn't lease or buy the car that was following Alison and Emily in Rosewood. Unless he's a ghost."

"Or someone else used his name for it." Spencer suggested a more likely scenario.

She looked directly at Emily.

Ezra said his brother was driving that car.

The car is registered to Theodore Kim.

Theodore Kim is dead.

Why was Wes driving a dead man's car?

Spencer didn't linger on Emily for very long. That's how the brunette knew that she didn't have any news about Ezra.

"This doesn't make any sense. Caleb found records that proved Theodore's medical credentials. How can he be dead?" Hanna asked.

"There was a grave with my name on it, too. And I wasn't in it." Alison pointed out. "Faking death is not out of the realm of possibility."

"You weren't two years old when you faked your death." Spencer replied.

"The name on the grave is for a baby?" Alison swallowed hard, horrified. "So…it is Teddy? The little boy my mom and her sister were watching when…"

When he died… But she couldn't finish the sentence.

"Yes." Spencer replied softly.

"So it's possible that whoever helped Charlotte kill my mom was doing it to avenge him."

"That's a bit of a leap. We still haven't found any evidence to prove that. His family went off the grid after he died."

"Maybe they moved to the south. Alabama? Maybe that's where James Bristow comes in. What if Teddy's parents had another kid?" Emily suggested.

"Not likely given what we know about Bristow's past." Spencer directed her attention to Emily again. "There is nothing to suggest that his mother ever lived in Rosewood and nothing to tie him to Teddy."

She stopped short of saying something else.

Emily saw the look in her eyes.

Where does the money that Ezra's father sent come in to this?

They couldn't talk freely about Ezra and his family in front of Aria and Hanna, but he was starting to become more of a concern.

Emily and Alison hadn't heard from him since the boardwalk. Toby hadn't seen him in town. Caleb couldn't track his movements. It was very odd, especially since he'd explicitly told Emily and Alison that he'd find them.

Time was of the essence. He very likely knew that. So what was taking him so long?

Alison and Emily didn't risk letting their investigation about Ezra slip during the conversation. They let Spencer lead.

It was only after the call ended and they'd slipped back into their bedroom that they dared to speak his name.

They knew that Hanna wasn't listening in, because she was having her nightly conversation with her fiancé.

"It's been a whole week." Alison was on top of the sheets she'd pulled back from the corners of the bed. She kicked her feet up and leaned back. "How do we know the text was really from him?"

"Toby was sure it was him." Emily sat next to her, her voice a hushed whisper.

"Toby can't control what that man does." Alison harrumphed like a cranky old grandmother, which Emily found endearing. "Maybe he blocked the number and took off." She considered the possibilities. "Or he's dead."

"I can't say that I would have any love lost if that was true," Emily muttered. "But I'd rather hear what he has to say first."

Alison paused, staring at her manicured fingers. Her hands still smelled like the hand lotion that Emily had bought for her recently.

"He's not coming, is he?" She made a bold assumption. "He took the coward's way out when we texted. He cut tail and ran again."

"We don't know that." Emily propped herself up on her elbow and looked down at the blonde.

Realistically, they didn't know anything. They kept getting puzzle pieces to a puzzle that had no guide.

"We don't know anything." Alison moved into Emily's arms.

Emily knew she was right. All they had to rely on was each other.

She sighed and kissed the top of Alison's head, pausing to take in the scent of her shampoo. She slid her palm up underneath Alison's top, stroking her tense muscles along her spine and up to the nape of her neck.

Alison hummed and rolled flat on to her stomach. She melted into her pillow as Emily caressed her skin, working out the knots in her back.

She was out cold just minutes after Emily had started a deep tissue massage.

Emily watched her girlfriend relax into the mattress and took a moment to appreciate the serenity.

It was more of a challenge for Emily to drift off to dreamland. Much like Spencer, her mind never stopped turning.

It wasn't until she was between a strange statis of twilight and lucid dreaming that she realized something.

There was no license plate. Her eyes popped open.

She'd seen both the front and the back of the SUV at the beach and there were no plates.

Usually that pointed to one of two things.

Unmarked police units.

And criminals who didn't want to get caught.

Neither scenario was a good one.

She closed her eyes and tried to picture the driver.

The harder she tried to see the person behind the wheel the more distorted the driver became.

Her persistence to remember her thoughts led to an exhaustion too powerful to overcome.

When she closed her eyes she was locked inside the darkest corners of her mind.

A dark hallway.

Flashing lights.

The screams of her friends.

"Emily, help!"

A mechanical voice,

"Choose…"

She slammed her palm over her ears, yelling at their captor.

"SHUT UP!"

"Choose!"

"Shut up, Shut up, SHUT UP!"

Then she was running through the dim corridors, shouting her friends' names.

She ran for so long her lungs hurt.

The muscles in her legs were throbbing.

She was out of breath and out of steam.

Frozen and smothered, like the sun had been completely snuffed out.

Darkness moved through her veins like cold water.

She felt a scream bubbling up, but she forced it back down.

If she started screaming she'd never stop.

How long had it been?

Minutes?

Hours?

The ground beneath her felt like it was moving. And suddenly, she was sinking in quicksand.

The darkness and her fear were swallowing her whole.

She went to lean against the wall, but was interrupted by a horrific buzzing sound.

It was as if someone had taken a chainsaw and revved it against a thick lining of metal.

The screeching echoed throughout the empty hallways.

She slammed her palms over her ears, but she could still feel the vibration.

Her head hurt.

Her teeth were chattering.

"Emily?"

A voice cut through all the noise.

"Alison."

Followed immediately by the thought, 'you can't be here'.

"Em, wake up."

She took a breath and closed her eyes.

When she opened them back up she saw the blurry image of her Malibu condo. She was locked in her body and unable to move. She was screaming without sound coming out.

A warm palm touched her cheek.

The paralysis faded away.

Alison gently pulled her hand away, and Emily's body pounded with the ghost of her touch.

She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

Alison came into view.

"It's Samara."

"Huh?" Emily asked in a daze.

"Your phone." Alison yawned and pointed to the nightstand on Emily's side of the bed.

Alison fell back against her pillow and yawned again. If she'd been more alert she might have seen the sweat stains on Emily's pajamas.

"Hey." Emily answered, her hands trembling.

"I'm sorry. I know I woke you up, but I wouldn't be calling if it wasn't important." Samara cut straight to the point, which was completely unlike her.

The fact that she hadn't made a joke about something yet got Emily's full attention.

"What's up?"

"There is a guy here. Claims he's the father of one of our kids, but he says he'll only talk to you. He says he knows you, but he won't give me his name." Samara's voice was a mixture of distrust and concern.

Emily's thoughts immediately went back to the SUV.

"What kind of car does he drive?"

Now her conversation had Alison's attention.

The blonde sat up and stared at the brunette.

"I don't know, but with everything going on…I'm inclined to throw him out."

Emily heard a man's voice on the other end.

She recognized it, but couldn't quite place it,

"I'm more than willing to video chat." The man's tone was smooth and deep.

"Put him on." Emily agreed.

A few seconds later a familiar face was staring back at her. Alison looked at him from over Emily's shoulder.

"Hello, Emily," he said.

I knew someone was watching me.

For someone who had showed up out of the blue he seemed oddly calm.

"I have something for you. Any chance we could meet somewhere private?"

Emily didn't even think it through. She didn't look at Alison for approval. She didn't think about all the things that could go wrong. She answered instinctively.

"Give me twenty minutes," Emily leaped out of bed. "Put my friend back on."

A few seconds later, Samara was looking back at her.

"Samara…do we have an open meeting room?"

"Yeah…"

"Have him wait there." Emily started rummaging through her closet.

"Should I be worried?" Samara questioned.

I don't know yet.

The sane part of her wanted to call Marco Furey and have him meet them there. The selfish part of her didn't want to risk losing the answers they were searching for.

Logic dictated he'd sought them out in a public place…on their territory and on their terms. He had clearly been tracking the police presence. He didn't seem to want the authorities around.

"I'll be there as soon as we can. Just keep an eye out."

"Got it."

After they hung up Alison watched Emily flitting around the room. She stood up and shadowed her.

"Emily, you can't possibly be…" Alison grabbed her arm, her grip tight.

"This might be our only chance." Emily spun around and saw the ghost-like expression on Alison's face. "I don't know what's going to happen when we get there, but we have to find out."

The brunette's voice was vibrating with intensity. Underneath her touch Alison could feel her body doing the same.

Alison pursed her lips, mulling something over curiously.

"You said we."

"I'm not about to run off and do this without you. You'd never let me hear the end of it." Emily tossed Alison an outfit to change in to.

It wasn't something Alison would have picked for herself, but she didn't care.

"If Hanna asks?" Alison pulled a pair of pants on.

"We'll tell her it's work related." She reached for Alison, catching her arms with her palms. She delicately closed her fingers around Alison's forearms. "We don't breathe a word of this to the girls, okay?"

"Not even Spencer?"

"Not yet." Emily took striding steps over to her closet.

She stared at the gun safe, but she didn't linger on it. She didn't want to frighten Alison.

To their incredible fortune, Hanna was busy doing something for her boss. She barely even batted an eye at the two of them rushing out the door. She called something out about how they were out of coffee as they shut the door, but that was it.

Emily and Alison reached for each other, their hands clasped as they walked towards their destination. A door to their past was wide open, and they were getting ready to walk through it...no matter the consequences.

---

A/N: I know it's an anxiety-filled ride (and this chapter is no exception), but hopefully the saucy scene(s) and Protective Alison fed all your little Emison hearts (Haleb STANS are getting fed, too). I am also quite fond of the Hanna/Alison real-talk convos and the Sparia dynamic (Spencer and her packing system).

Both our girls seem a little lost at sea. The mental health aspect was something I wish we'd seen more of with them.

We've got a lot to contend with between the mystery man at the Alliance and James Bristow. Not to mention...do we think Theodore Kim is a dead (literally) end?

Go off about your favorite moments. I'm torn between Alison telling Emily she won't apologize for protecting her and Hanna for planning a wedding mere weeks after the proposal.